Sophia Alekseyevna – The Regent of Russia (1682-1689)

Posted on June 29, 2015 Updated on June 29, 2015

Sophia Alekseyevna named herself the Regent of Russia on 29^th June 1682 during the minority of her brothers, Peter I and Ivan V. The event was marked as an extraordinary one in history since Muscovite women generally did not participate in politics.

Sophia was the third daughter of Tsar Alexei I of Russia by his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya. She displayed outstanding intelligence and received her education from Belorussian monk Simeon Polotsky. After the death of her brother, the then ruler Fyodor III in April 1682, her 10 year old half-brother Peter I was proclaimed the successor to the throne. Peter was the son of Alexis and his second wife, Natalya Naryshkina.  However, Sophia objected the election of Peter to the throne since it would result in a government dominated by the Naryshkins.

The Moscow Uprising of 1682 helped the Miloslavsky family to proclaim Sophia’s younger brother Ivan V, to the throne. Supported by the streltsy (household troops) Sophia assumed the role of Regent for her brothers under the direction of her chief advisor and courtier Prince Vasily Galitzine. However soon fearing a reverse in support by the streltsy Sophia replaced the commander of the rebels Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky with Fyodor Leontyevich Shaklovity, who was her ally. As an added measure she also annulled several privileges given to the troops when she seized power.

During her regency Sophia encouraged the development of industry and called for the foreign craftsmen to settle in Russia. She faced the dissatisfaction of the landed nobles owing to the lax in detention policies of the escapee surfs and peasants. The foreign policy highlights of her rule include the Eternal Peace Treaty signed with Poland in 1686 and the Treaty of Nerchinsk with China in 1689.

However, during 1687 and 1689 her rule witnessed two devastating military campaigns, led by Prince Vasily Galitzine, against the vassals of the Turks, the Crimean Tatars. The failure of Vasily added to the growing discontentment among the nobles, the Naryshkins as well as the general population.

Sensing the growing discontent, Sophia again made an attempt to initiate a new uprising in the year 1689 among the streltsy to prevent Peter from ascending the throne. However, most of them supported Peter this time. In September 1689, Sophia was forced to step down from the throne and was confined in the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.

Roughly 10 years later, during the Streltsy Revolt in 1698 her supporters among the streltsy tried to reinstate her to power. The revolt was suppressed and Sophia was tried by a special tribunal and forced into veil as Nun Susanna of the Novodevichy Convent. She was kept in strict isolation and she eventually died there after 6 years on 3^rd July 1704.

Source: Great Russian Gifts ; russia-ic.com ; Encyclopaedia Britannica